61. Big Issue Ground Essays On Philosophy, Politics, History Science And Religion Essays on issues of politics, religion, science and history. Includes website on atheism by positive atheist Thomas Ash. http://www.bigissueground.com/

Atheism Philosophy Politics History ... Essays and book reviews on philosophy, politics, history, science and religion Introduction - "What Is Big Issue Ground?" Big Issue Ground is a collection of essays, opinion and book reviews on - you guessed it - "the big issues." These are the topics that everyone finds interesting and thinks about, from time to time: philosophy and politics, the past and the future, science and religion. There's a special site within a site - Atheist Ground - with essays and books on religion, especially from the atheist perspective. But everywhere on this site I've tried to cover all opinions, not just my own. The essays are provided so you can make your own mind up on "the big issues" - and if you decide you disagree, you can always send me feedback or even submit your own essay Thomas Ash, webmaster The Essays Click on a category to start exploring the big issues deeper... Politics Philosophy History Science and the Future The Book Reviews To take your exploration of the big issues to the next level, find some good books on a topic of your choice...

62. Religious Movements Homepage: Atheism The greatest threat to atheism right now is the discrimination of Much likereligious cults and sects, atheism is one of the biggest tests of the US http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~jkh8x/soc257/nrms/atheism.html

Atheism Profile Beliefs Related Ideologies Links ... Bibliography I. Group Profile Name: Atheism Definition: Atheism is a) the disbelief in the existence of God or any other deity, or b) the doctrine that there is neither god nor any other deity. (1) The word comes from two Greek word roots: a , which means "not," and theos , which means "god." (2) History: Atheism has its roots in both Eastern and Western ancient cultures.While the philosophers of ancient Greece were debating the characteristics of their gods, the Indian Vedas were also questioning the power and origin of the deities of their belief system. These debates, in both cultures, eventually led to questions concerning the actual existence of any gods. These questions did not gain widespread recognizition until much later, however. Atheism as it is known today largely developed in Western culture, and had its first great entrance onto history's philosophical stage during the Enlightenment. (3) Early Christian thought set some of the groundwork for later atheist arguments. Christian thinkers debated the characteristics of God and tried to prove, through reason, the existence of God and the existence of the Christian idea of God. Anslem, for example, in the Ontological Argument for the Existence of God, argued that God is that which there is nothing greater, and since a real God is greater than an imagined one, then God must exist. Other Christian thinkers did not accept Anselm's reasoning here, but offered other arguments on why God had to exist. Aquinas tried to present God as a "first mover," as one who set the world in motion, and without whom nothing would exist. He argued that objects and their existence proved the existnce of its creator. (4)

63. Atheism An Introduction to atheism from the Secular Web, which is recommended for thoseunfamiliar with the definitions of and bases for atheism. http://hem.passagen.se/nicb/atheism.htm

Click here for frames. "Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." - Thomas Jefferson I am an atheist ( is that at all possible? ), which means that I do not believe in the existence of any gods or other supernatural beings. I was a Christian for over a decade, but I gradually began to realize, through calm, rational reasoning, that there was, in fact, no reason whatever for supposing Christianity true. I invite you to find out for yourself why this is so. I also urge you to leave the Church of Sweden, if you are a member. For information on this and a form to fill out, click here Introduction An Introduction to Atheism from the Secular Web, which is recommended for those unfamiliar with the definitions of and bases for atheism. What Is Atheism? , a clarifying definition. Atheist Commentary , some brief answers by George H. Smith to the most common questions about atheism. Is Atheism Logical? , an essay by Mark I. Vuletic

64. Nietzsche, God And Doomsday By Henry Bayman An essay which uses Nietzsche's writings to attack science and atheism. http://stjohns-chs.org/english/gothic/works/Nietzgodanddoomsday.html

TABLE OF CONTENTS NIETZSCHE, GOD AND DOOMSDAY: THE CONSEQUENCES OF ATHEISM by Henry Bayman "Reason divorced of knowledge of the divine burns into itself, like acid." "Do you know what fear and loneliness mean?... You will see nothing in that expanse of eternal emptiness, you will not hear your own step, you will find nothing solid for you to rest upon." In the Mouth of Madness Nietzsche saw it coming. "The story I have to tell," he wrote, "is the history of the next two centuries... For a long time now our whole civilization has been driving, with a tortured intensity growing from decade to decade, as if towards a catastrophe: restlessly, violently, tempestuously, like a mighty river desiring the end of its journey, without pausing to reflect, indeed fearful of reflection... Where we live, soon nobody will be able to exist." Nietzsche's was a mind that thought so deeply and with such intensity that it threw off sparks and crackled like a high-voltage generator. Poised on the brink of the 20th century, he saw it all in the crystal ball of his mind, and the abyss he beheld was so horrifying that he desperately tugged at the emergency brakes, vainly trying to stop the runaway train. "There will be wars," he prophesied, "such as have never been waged on earth.." And again: "I foresee something terrible, Chaos everywhere. Nothing left which is of any value; nothing which commands: Thou shalt!" Nietzsche was no stranger to paradox and contradiction. He was simultaneously the opponent, proponent and victim of the nihilism he foresaw. His was a mind at war against his soul, a spirit locked in titanic struggle with the intellect. A student of Sufi psychology might observe that his ego—his "Me", his egotistical self—had gained control over his mind, and the latter thwarted all attempts of his spirit to elevate itself by placing before it a self-defeating intellectual obstacle around which it could find no way.

65. N.B. Ph.D - Atheism Commenetery biblical passage captures the essence of how the average religious personviews atheism. atheism is probably the least popular, and least understood, http://hem.passagen.se/nicb/comm.htm

atheist commentery By George H. Smith In Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1991) "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good." This famous biblical passage captures the essence of how the average religious person views atheism. Atheism is probably the least popular, and least understood, philosophical position in America today. The very word "atheist" often conjures up the image of an immoral, dangerous cynic - an apostle of destructive negativism. Atheism, to put it simply, has suffered from bad press. Christians have spent a good deal of their 2,000-year history fretting over disbelievers, and a major weapon in their arsenal has been the portrayal of disbelief as the most horrendous of evils, deserving of the most severe punishment. Jesus, according to the New Testament, threatened that nonbelievers shall be thrown "into the furnace of fire" where "men will weep and gnash their teeth." The medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas, perhaps the greatest mind in Catholic history, taught "the sin of unbelief is greater than any sin that occurs in the perversion of morals," and he recommended that the heretic "be exterminated from the world by death." It has been common for centuries to label atheism a spiritual or moral disease. Typical of this trend is a book written in 1878, titled

66. Ex-Atheist.com. Christian Apologetics, Logic And Debate! Story of how a lifelong skeptic became a Christian. Also includes articles discussing skepticism, atheism, and apologetics and various resources for Christians. http://www.ex-atheist.com/

ANALYZE THIS!RESPONSES TO E-MAIL. INCLUDES AIR-TIGHT LOGICAL ARGUMENTS FOR: How can a good God allow suffering What about those who have never heard about Jesus And more! THE GAME DESIGNER ARGUMENT WHY GOD'S MORALITY IS OBJECTIVE Exposes secular morality and meaning to life as an imaginary game. Christian Apologetics, Logic in Religious Debate, Christianity vs. Atheism. Just how real is God? FROM SKEPTICISM TO WORSHIP Read how A.S.A. Jones discovered faith in God after 20 years of hardcore skepticism and debate. THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE; LEARNING TO THINK SPIRITUALLY ... An examination of the Scopes Monkey Trail. Table of Fallacies, Using Logic in Debate , More... RELIGIOUS DEBATE!; SEE WHAT IT TAKES TO COME OUT ON TOP! Learn how to argue your point by reading these actual debates against hardline skeptics DEBATE TIP : Debate is about two people giving each other the opportunity to say something stupid.

67. Humanism Deception Warnings for the goals of humanism. http://www.christianparents.com/hmenu1.htm

HUMANISM DECEPTION Deceptive Mask for Atheism Humanism John Dewey, Father of Modern Education, Author of Humanist Manifesto I, Amerikanized version of Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. How is it that the school system omits this bit of history? Humanist Manifestos I, II, and III It took forty years to produce HM II, and only seventeen for HM III. Consider the growth rate curve. The following articles can be found on the menu for Public School. Menu of Writings on the Public School System The Purpose of Education History of Changes in Education Deceptive School ... More History Menu another group of historical things IGNORANCE OF HUMANISM ALLOWS EASY DECEPTION: God's own people are destroyed for their lack of knowledge. Protect your child from the traps of humanism which is nothing different than the original snare used by the serpent to deceive Eve. People are often deceived by a false association of words. They relate humanitarian with the good Samaritan. Then they equate the belief system of humanism with humanitarianism. Then they accept the idea of supporting humanistic projects which give no glory to God.

68. Atheism - Wikiquote atheism is the state of being without theistic beliefs and alternatively the atheism, a religion dedicated to its own sense of smug superiority. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Atheism

Wikimedia needs your help in its US$200,000 fund drive. See our fundraising page for details. Atheism From Wikiquote Atheism is the state of being without theistic beliefs and alternatively the disbelief in the existence of deities. Atheists In Foxholes Monument, Lake Hypatia Alabama, USA. Image from the Freedom From Religion Foundation "There are no atheists in foxholes." — Lt-Col. William J. Clear "Atheists in foxholes, some say they are myths, Creations of the mind who just don't exist. Yet, they answered the call to defend, with great pride. With reason their watchword, they bled and they died." Alice Shiver , "Atheists-in-Foxholes" monument, dedicated on July 4, 1999 "'There are no atheists in foxholes' isn't an argument against atheism, it's an argument against foxholes. James Morrow "The inhabitants of the earth are of two sorts: Those with brains, but no religion, And those with religion, but no brains." Abu'l-`Ala' al-Ma`arri , d. , poet of Ma`arra, quoted in Amin Maalouf 's book The Crusades Through Arab Eyes "Time spent arguing with the faithful is, oddly enough, almost never wasted." "Only a humorless tyrant could want a perpetual chanting of praises that, one has no choice but to assume, would be the innate virtues and splendors furnished him by

69. Athiesm In Ancient India An evaluation of the Carvaka school from a modern Hindu perspective. http://hinduwebsite.com/history/athiesm.htm

Home History Bhagavad gita Upanishads ... Link Resources Consider this Please  use our shopping center for your online purchases to help the website grow. Atheism and Hinduism "Atheism is a necessary protest against the wickedness of the churches and the narrowness of the creeds. God uses it as stone to smash these soiled card-houses." - Sri Aurobindo Of the numerous schools of thought that gained prominence during the epic period as a reaction against the excessive ritualism and empty dogmatism of vedic religion or perhaps the increasing rigidity of caste system, one school of thought attracts the attention of present day scholars not only for its radical approach to the problems of blind belief but also for its similarities with the modern day rationalism and materialism of the west. It was the lokayata school of thought, believed to have been founded by Charvaka, whose history is shrouded in great mystery and myth. The world lokayata was used to refer to the person who believed in the reality of this world and the physical existence of man and of other beings on earth and nothing else. 'Loka' means the world and 'lokayata' means he who is centered around or relies upon this world only. The lokayatas believed in the existence of this world only, neither in heaven nor in hell, neither in vice nor virtue. They accepted only that reality which they could subjectively perceive and interact with, not in any imaginary world or some kind of ideal world. Practical and down to the earth, they believed in the existence of four elements only, namely the earth, water, fire, and air instead of the five elements of the vedic scriptures of which space or ether was the fifth element.

70. Atheism And Agnosticism ‘atheism’ means the negation of theism, the denial of the existence of God. Smart, JJC and Haldane, John 2003 atheism and theism, 2nd Edn, Oxford, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/

version history HOW TO CITE THIS ENTRY Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy A ... Z This document uses XHTML/Unicode to format the display. If you think special symbols are not displaying correctly, see our guide Displaying Special Characters last substantive content change MAR The Encyclopedia Now Needs Your Support Please Read How You Can Help Keep the Encyclopedia Free Atheism and Agnosticism 1. Atheism 2. An adequate concept of God 3. Agnosticism 4. Ethics of belief ... Related Entries 1. Atheism Scientific Thought (Broad 1923) held that the chemical properties of common salt could not even in principle be deduced from those of sodium and chlorine separately, at the very time at which the quantum theory of the chemical bond was beginning to be developed. Though the mind has seemed to some to be strongly emergent from its physical basis, it can be argued that developments in the philosophy of mind, cognitive science and neuroscience favour weak emergence only. 2. An Adequate Concept of God Foundations of Arithmetic One thing that will not differentiate the theist from the atheist is to say that God, if he exists, is necessary in the sense of not being dependent on anything else for his existence. The atheist will say that the universe fits this bill because the universe contains everything that there is and so is not caused by anything else. It is indeed hard to see what an adequate conception of God and his necessary existence could be. For the purposes of this article, let us explore what the relations and lack of relations between atheism and agnosticism could be. Here we shall neglect the requirement of necessary existence and in a later section we shall consider the case of

71. What Is A Fallacy? Understanding Defective Arguments Logical fallacies are presented with detailed explanations, multiple examples, and tips on avoiding them. Fallacies are organized by topic and alphabetically. http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/skepticism/blfaq_fall_index.htm

var zLb=5; var zIoa1 = new Array('Suggested Reading','Logical Fallacies','http://atheism.about.com/od/logicalfallacies/','Critical Thinking','http://atheism.about.com/od/criticalthinking/','Flaws in Reasoning and Arguments','http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/skepticism/blskep_flaw.htm'); var zIoa2 = new Array('More Skepticism Resources','Logic and Arguments','http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/skepticism/bllog_index.htm','Skepticism News','http://atheism.about.com/od/skepticismnews/','Books on Science and Skepticism','http://atheism.about.com/cs/productreviews/tp/TopRecentSci.htm'); zJs=10 zJs=11 zJs=12 zJs=13 zc(5,'jsc',zJs,9999999,'') About Agnosticism / Atheism Philosophy, Philosophers Logical Fallacies What is a Fallacy? Understanding Defective Arguments Atheism Essentials 10 Commandments: News, Analysis Scientology, Tom Cruise ... Help zau(256,140,140,'el','http://z.about.com/0/ip/417/C.htm','');w(xb+xb+' ');zau(256,140,140,'von','http://z.about.com/0/ip/496/6.htm','');w(xb+xb); FREE Newsletter Sign Up Now for the Agnosticism / Atheism newsletter!

72. The Page Of Reason -- Arguments For Humanism, Reason, Science, Atheism And Socia Arguments for atheism and Humanism, quotes, music, thoughts, essays, books, and philosophy. http://WWW.Update.UU.SE/~fbendz/

LinkExchange Member What's New? Search The Page of Reason Click here to feed the poor without paying a dime Established in 1995 - more than 10 years on the web! You are visitor number since Feb 15 1996. "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." Stephen Roberts About the author The philosophy of this page Some useful links ... The Anti Page! (You'll hate it) The files on this site Easy-to-find map. Framed version Question of the month Please fill in my little survey Religion poll ... Reason! Message board Statistics for this page My other pages Sign Guestbook View Guestbook ... Sects Last update: Saturday, February 05, 2005 © Fredrik Bendz 1995-2005 S-mail : here E-mail : Tell your friends about The Page of Reason WWW The Page of Reason (and other pages at the Update server) Eat this spam harvester!

73. The Psychology Of Atheism The title of this paper, The Psychology of atheism, may seem strange. Therefore, in the Freudian framework, atheism is an illusion caused by the http://www.origins.org/articles/vitz_psychologyofatheism.html

Home Our Focus Search What's New ... Leadership U. The Psychology of Atheism Paul C. Vitz The title of this paper, "The Psychology of Atheism," may seem strange. Certainly, my psychological colleagues have found it odd and even, I might add, a little disturbing. After all, psychology, since its founding roughly a century ago, has often focused on the opposite topic-namely the psychology of religious belief. Indeed, in many respects the origins of modern psychology are intimately bound up with the psychologists who explicitly proposed interpretations of belief in God. William James and Sigmund Freud, for example, were both personally and professionally deeply involved in the topic. Recall The Will to Believe by James, as well as his still famous Varieties of Religious Experience . These two works are devoted to an attempt at understanding belief as the result of psychological, that is natural, causes. James might have been sympathetic to religion, but his own position was one of doubt and skepticism and his writings were part of psychology's general undermining of religious faith. As for Sigmund Freud, his critiques of religion, in particular Christianity, are well known and will be discussed in some detail later. For now, it is enough to remember how deeply involved Freud and his thought have been with the question of God and religion. Given the close involvement between the founding of much of psychology and a critical interpretation of religion, it should not be surprising that most psychologists view with some alarm any attempt to propose a psychology of atheism. At the very least such a project puts many psychologists on the defensive and gives them some taste of their own medicine. Psychologists are always observing and interpreting others and it is high time that some of them learn from their own personal experience what it is like to be put under the microscope of psychological theory and experiment. Regardless, I hope to show that the psychological concepts used quite effectively to interpret religion are two- edged swords that can also be used to interpret atheism. Sauce for the believer is equally sauce for the unbeliever.

74. Positive Atheism (since 1995) Join The Struggle Against Anti-Atheist Bigotry! News, history, humor, opinion, and analysis. http://www.positiveatheism.org/

Positive Atheism, Positive Atheist, Athiesm, Athiest We're delighted to be hosted (once again) by Web-1Hosting New Work; E-Mail Backlog New De-Conversion Stories! Overview of the Website ... Celebrating Religious Holidays!? For Those Seeking to Initiate or Invigorate Their Awareness of Their Own Freedom from Superstition and Theistic Faith Overview of this Website Please note I've been on an extended and unplanned sabbatical since the year began. My current plans ( August ) are to continue this toss-up between resting and studying those things that will enable me to realize what have long been my dreams for the future of this web project. While I've been studying a lot of various computer-related matters, our most important move, at this point, has been to replace that clunker if a computer I'd been using tr y in g to use since early 1999. Thanks to some extremely generous readers for several unsolicited donations over the past month, we were able to bypass the "it'll-do-for-now" holdover machine. By tightening my own belt somewhat and contributing my own fair share (on top of the readers' donations), we was able to go ahead and purchase what we've been saving up for almost a year to get: a Pentium 4 system running at 3.40 gigaHertz with three gigs of ram. (Or something along those lines! Hell, I'm a

75. Atheism atheism is the philosophy that there are no gods ( http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ATHEISM.html

Atheism Atheism is the philosophy that there are no god s ("a" = without, "theos" = god) The simplest argument for atheism follows from Occam's Razor : from different equivalent explanations, choose the simplest one. If we cannot explain more things by postulating the existence of God than we can without, then we should prefer the theory without. The fact that this principle is not sufficient to prove that God does not exist, is not very relevant. After all, nobody can prove that unicorns, flying toasters or 23-legged purple elephants do not exist, but that does not make their existence any more likely. (see also: Occam's Razor as justification of atheism This assumes that the existence of God does not explain anything. However, the most typical argument for the existence of God is that creation by God is needed to explain the complexity of the universe around us. Apart from the fact that that same complexity can already be explained by straightforward principles of evolution and self-organization , the introduction of God does not in any way contribute to explanation, since it just pushes the phenomenon to be explained one step away. If God explains the existence of the universe, then what explains the existence of God? Since the concept of God is neither simpler nor more intuitive than the concept of the Universe, explaining God's origin is not in any way easier than explaining the origin of the Universe. On the contrary, since God is in principle unknowable, we cannot even hope to explain His coming into being. On the other hand, although the Universe may never be grasped in its totality, there are definitely many aspects of it that are observable and understandable, and lend themselves to ever more complete explanations. In conclusion, postulating God as an explanation does not only make the theory unnecessarily complicated, it even obscures those phenomena that might have been explained otherwise.

76. Atheism, Its Teaching And Validity Examined. Is Atheism Defensible? An examination of atheism, pros and cons. Observations regarding ethics, behavior of atheists, and errors in reasoning, both for and against belief in God. Arguments for belief. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry site. http://www.carm.net/atheism.htm

C HRISTIAN A R ESEARCH M INISTRY www.carm.org HOME PAGE Jesus saves HOME CHRISTIAN INFO The Bible The Bible Online Christian Doctrine Christian Issues ... To the Christian Church APOLOGETICS INFO 40 Objections Apologetics Apologetics Dialogues Christian Resources ... Research QUESTIONS About Doctrine About God About Jesus Other Questions BIBLE DIFFICULTIES Genesis - Deuteronomy Joshua - Esther Job - Song of Solomon Isaiah - Malachi ... Hebrews - Revelation RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS About Cult Groups Religious Movements List Christadelphianism Christian Science ... Universalism SECULAR MOVEMENTS Abortion Atheism Creation-Evol. Debate Evolution ... Secular School MORE STUFF Audio Discussion Boards Features More Stuff ... What's New? Atheism ranges from strong to weak. Some atheists outright affirm there is no God. Others atheists say they choose not to exercise faith in the concept of God thereby neither acknowledging or denying God. Is atheism a valid option? Introduction Atheism Terms and definitions Can an Atheist be ethical?

77. Atheism. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05 atheism. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 200105. http://www.bartleby.com/65/at/atheism.html

Select Search All Bartleby.com All Reference Columbia Encyclopedia World History Encyclopedia Cultural Literacy World Factbook Columbia Gazetteer American Heritage Coll. Dictionary Roget's Thesauri Roget's II: Thesaurus Roget's Int'l Thesaurus Quotations Bartlett's Quotations Columbia Quotations Simpson's Quotations Respectfully Quoted English Usage Modern Usage American English Fowler's King's English Strunk's Style Mencken's Language Cambridge History The King James Bible Oxford Shakespeare Gray's Anatomy Farmer's Cookbook Post's Etiquette Bulfinch's Mythology Frazer's Golden Bough All Verse Anthologies Dickinson, E. Eliot, T.S. Frost, R. Hopkins, G.M. Keats, J. Lawrence, D.H. Masters, E.L. Sandburg, C. Sassoon, S. Whitman, W. Wordsworth, W. Yeats, W.B. All Nonfiction Harvard Classics American Essays Einstein's Relativity Grant, U.S. Roosevelt, T. Wells's History Presidential Inaugurals All Fiction Shelf of Fiction Ghost Stories Short Stories Shaw, G.B. Stein, G. Stevenson, R.L. Wells, H.G. Reference Columbia Encyclopedia PREVIOUS NEXT ... BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. atheism m) ( KEY ) , denial of the existence of God or gods and of any supernatural existence, to be distinguished from

78. Secular Philosophies -- Beliefnet.com Message boards, links, and information dealing with agnosticism, atheism, and humanism. http://beliefnet.com/index/index_10043.asp

Home Community Religions Spirituality ... More Explore Beliefnet Beliefnet Home Buddhism Christianity Catholic Eastern Orthodox Mormon Protestant Hinduism Islam Judaism Earth-Based More Religions General Spirituality Other Topics (Alphabetical) Apocalypse Astrology Atheism Bible Books Celebrations Christian Inspiration Culture Dating Discussions Family Giving Humor Inspiration Jesus Marriage Memorials Money Morality Music News Parenting Politics Prayer Circles Prayer of the Day Quizzes Relationships Science Sexuality Soulmatch Spirituality Teens Travel Volunteering Religions Baha'i Buddhism Christianity ... Zoroastrianism Secular Philosophies Tools Memorials Celebration Albums Find drawSearch('search_for') Beliefnet the Web Sacred Texts Columnists Houses of Worship Prayers ... Soulmatch Daily Offerings The Dalai Lama Prayer of the Day Spiritual Parenting Inspiration ... Swami Uptown More Bible Buddhist Hindu Muslim Torah Home Religions Board Topic Author Atheism happiness Philosophy happiness ... wyote Discuss: Atheism Humanism Philosophy More... Recent Features The Problem with Religious Moderates A misplaced tolerance keeps us from criticizing beliefs that lead to violence. The Pledge BattleNot Over Yet Those for and against 'under God' agree that the Supreme Court's Pledge case dismissal was not the end of the controversy.

79. Why Atheism? Atheist, Atheists, atheism, Secular Humanism, Humanism, proof of god, god, proofthat god exists, existence of god, gods existence, proof of gods existence, http://www.godlessgeeks.com/WhyAtheism.htm

go to Atheists of Silicon Valley home page go to Atheists of Silicon Valley debate page Read “A Call to Action” from the President of ASV [NOTE: This is written as a speech, with actions by the speaker in square brackets.] Why Atheism? by x Mark Thomas Hello. My name is Mark, and [pause, look around, whisper] I’m an Atheist. History and Development of Science and Scientific Naturalism OK. Let’s start with a quick experiment. [Hold out your hand with a coin in it. Show it to the audience. Let it fall. Do this again. Hold out a third coin.] If I were to do this again, what do you think would happen? If we could get ten good Christians to pray that this next coin wouldn’t fall, would it still fall? How about one thousand Muslims? How about one billion people of any faith? I think that it would still fall. [Drop the third coin.] Our understanding of the world around us, and our abilities to predict what will happen are based on naturalism — the basis of science. Naturalism is how all people live their lives most of the time. OK, let’s do a thought experiment. If I were to take two coins and glue them together, then drop them at the same time as I drop a single coin, would they fall twice as fast as the single coin? Aristotle thought so 2300 years ago, and for over 1900 years, his ideas were what was taught about this and many other subjects. Some of the other ancient Greeks had many ideas that are now a basis for modern science, math, philosophy, and democracy. Unfortunately for humankind, these ideas were largely forgotten for almost two thousand years while religion took control and Aristotle was revered as the source of supposedly scientific knowledge.

80. Atheists Anonymous - Atheism Defended Why has atheism, until the 20th century the bold assertion of the few, I favour the latter explanation, believing that modern atheism is more tenable http://kennethmoyle.mcmaster.ca/aa/atheism1.htm

Under Contruction - This is a draft yet to be fully fleshed out Atheism Defended Contents The Difficulty of Belief Positive and Negative Atheism Traditional Atheism Modern Atheism ... Further Reading The Difficulty of Belief Disbelief in God is nothing new. To find hand-wringing jeremiads about young people and their lack of regard for the faith of their fathers one needn't look to sources any more modern than the Old Testament or Plato's Republic ; doubts about the gods, naturalistic explanations of so-called divine phenomena and even outright contempt for religion can be found in some of Western civilizations oldest writings. Atheism and agnosticism seem to be as old as God. But there is something new about the sort of disbelief found in modern Western society: it is very common; it is supported (or at least not discouraged) by government and schools; I dare say that disbelief is now considered the norm. Why has atheism, until the 20th century the bold assertion of the few, suddenly been accepted by such a large portion of the population? Have the ideas merely spread and propogated ever more quickly with the broadened reach of education and cultural sophistication, or does today's atheism differ in character as well as quantity from that of the past? I favour the latter explanation, believing that modern atheism is more tenable because of the ascendancy of positive atheism over negative. Positive and Negative Atheism Negative atheism rests on the rejection of specific theistic beliefs; thus atheists through the ages have rejected the Greek and Norse pantheons, the afterlife, the divinity of Jesus, and the very existence of God. But there is also the sort of atheism which comes from positive assertions about the nature of the world based on observations and interpretations that simply don't involved God; this is the atheism of Darwinism, the Big Bang, cultural relativism, and reductionist materialism. Note that I don't mean to distinguish two types of athe

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